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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Matthew scored the victory on the last WOGE by finding the Messel Fossil Pit, the only site thats part of the World Heritage solely because of its fossil content. It was also the site of discovery of Ida, the "primate-like" fossil that a while ago made the news and caused some controversy. Matthew doesn't have his own blog nor website so he asked me to host WOGE 209. Naturally I will not participate because I would have an unfair advantage. Below is the image he sent me:

For any new players to Where on (Google) Earth, simply post a comment with latitude and longitude and write something about the (geologic) features in the picture. If you win, you get to host the next one.

Matthew did not let me know if he wants it to be with or without the Schott Rule. I decided that I DO invoke the Schott Rule. Former winners have to wait until posting for 1 hour for each WoGE they got right.

Matthew, if you disagree I will revoke this. Please let me know.

Posting time is July 7th, 3 PM CET ( 1PM UTC).

Matthew has let me know that he wants to post an additional image because it is more than a week now without a reply. Here it is:

10 comments
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I think the Schott Rule is a good idea. I found WOGE only recently, so I am not sure how difficult this one will be for experienced players. If no one has found the answer within a couple of days then I will start posting some hints here.

If no one has found this location yet then here are some hints, North is at the top and the image is about 25km across. If you consider the sources of the image, and pay attention to what you don't see (mountains, roads, streams, etc.) then there should not be very many places to check. If no one guesses within the next few days then I will try an even larger view.

Matthew has sent me a 2nd image of the same area with a wider field of view. If there is no correct answer by thursday I will also post the 2nd image. Considering my audience, most of you don't need to search so far away from home by the way...

It is at 30deg 48' 54.61"N and 82deg 21'58.23"W.It is in Georgia, (the U.S state) and appears to be in a very damp National Wildlife Refuge called Okefenokee.This explains the odd blotchy landforms I suppose.This is part of a classic Southern Swamp, Google tells me. There is also 'Trail Ridge' which sounds like a fossil shore-line.Anyway, I'd be interested to hear more.

Congratulations to Simon. The image does show the Okefenokee Swamp. This is a huge peat-forming wetland (about 177,000 ha in size). It fills a shallow depression bordered on the east by the fossil shore-line you mentioned, called Trail Ridge. Since the swamp formed about 5000 years ago it has accumulated 1 to 5 m of peat. The slender canal that crosses the image is the remnant of an abandoned effort in the nineteenth century to drain the swamp for farmland. The line near the left edge is a control structure built 50 years ago in an equally useless effort to keep the swamp perpetually flooded. These failures leave the Okefenokee as one of the only large peat-forming areas on earth that has not been hydrologically altered. It provides an interesting living example of the processes that formed many of the world's coal deposits. My apologies if I threw the game a little off-track. I did not think my image would be so hard to find. I look forward to seeing what Simon has selected for WOGE 210.

Is there any way that you can ping Simon/Meta-geologist about WoGE#110? I submitted a correct locality and description last week but it seems he hasn't checked his comments. I'm guessing he reads your blog since he solved WoGE#109 here, so perhaps if you post something on your front page he'll see it.

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